It is the time of the year again when dandelions invade our lawns and without a doubt they will soon be sending their spores far and wide as soon as they are caught by a gust of wind. This means that even if you have a pristine weed free lawn the chances are it will soon have spores from other people’s gardens waiting to take seed.

Dandelions are notoriously difficult to get rid of. You must remove the whole root from the ground to be sure it will not shoot next year. When doing this I remove the head first carefully to avoid any more spores being picked up by the wind and infiltrating other parts of your lawn. Then using a trowel or small fork loosen the soil around the root before pulling the entire root from the ground. If you have a lot of weeds in your lawn you could choose a weedkiller, but always get one that will not damage the surrounding grass or cause harm to pets or children.

The Dandelions Latin name is Taraxacum Officinale, Dandelion coming from the French for lion’s tooth. The plant is still used to make Dandelion wine, Dandelion beer, and the popular Dandelion and Burdock fizzy drink. Read more about how to get rid of Dandelions here.